Card game variant using suited blackjack

ABSTRACT

There is disclosed a game having a first player and a second player. The first player may wager against the second player. The first player may be dealt a first hand. The second player may be dealt a second hand. The first hand may have a first card and a third card. The second hand may have a second card and a fourth card. If the first hand is a first suited blackjack having a first rank and the second hand is not a second suited blackjack having a second rank equal to or greater than the first rank then the first player is provided a bonus based on the wager.

A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains material which is subject to copyright protection. This patent document may show and/or describe matter which is or may become trade dress of the owner. The copyright and trade dress owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by any one of the patent disclosure as it appears in the Patent and Trademark Office patent files or records, but otherwise reserves all copyright and trade dress rights whatsoever.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to card games.

2. Description of the Related Art

Playing cards are believed to have originated in China or India circa 900 A.D. Card games are believed to have been introduced to Europe during the 12^(th) or 13^(th) century by the Mamelukes of Egypt. Card games have been popular in Western society since the 15^(th) Century.

Blackjack is a card game. People play Blackjack for diversion, competition and profit. The goal of Blackjack is to have a hand with a value as close to twenty-one as possible without being greater than twenty-one.

Blackjack is typically played among a player/dealer and up to nine other players. Each of the players plays against the player/dealer. A player/dealer is a player against whom other players may wager. The player/dealer is typically the dealer, though it is possible to have someone else, such as a designated casino employee, actually deal. Players typically wager against the player/dealer prior to game play. The role of player/dealer is sometimes rotated amongst the players.

Blackjack is typically played with several standard card decks, together forming a “multi-deck”. Some establishments require a minimum of two card decks to be used per table. Multi-decks of eight, ten or twelve decks in a shoe are common. Some casinos use automatic shuffle machines that may hold four decks or other number of decks. A standard card deck consists of a face value set of ace, king, queen, jack, ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three and two for each suit of hearts, clubs, spades and diamonds. A face value is an identifier which indicates a worth, utility, numerical value, or importance. The respective value for each face value is typically eleven or one, ten, ten, ten, ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three and two. Although the ace may have a value of an eleven or an one, the ace is not considered to be a wild card. Thus, a standard deck has fifty-two cards.

To determine the value of a player's hand in Blackjack, the value of each card in the hand is summed. Aces have a value of either eleven or one based on the player's choice. All the other cards have a value equal to their face value.

Casinos often collect a fee from each player. Often, the fee is a fixed amount based upon a range of wagers.

In blackjack, several ways to select the first deal may be used. For example, the player seated in the first seat to the left of the player/dealer may receive the first deal. Then, the player/dealer deals two cards to each player (including the player/dealer) in a clockwise direction. Additionally, the selection of the player/dealer may be based on a rotating player/dealer button, wheel or other random generating information device. Typically, cards are dealt in two rounds, plus optionally one or more additional cards after the second round. The first card dealt to the player/dealer is typically dealt face down and the other cards are dealt face up. Thus, each player and the player/dealer initially has a two-card hand.

After receiving their two-card hand, the players and the player/dealer each decide how to play their hand. The players in turn make their decisions. The player/dealer has the last hit option. However, blackjacks are addressed first.

A two-card hand consisting of an ace and either a ten, jack, queen or king is a blackjack. A blackjack has the best value for a hand, twenty-one.

If the player/dealer has a blackjack, the player typically loses. However, some casinos offer each player to make an insurance wager if the player/dealer's face up card is an ace. Typically, the insurance wager is ½ of the player's wager. If the player makes the insurance wager and the player/dealer has a blackjack, then the player pushes with regard to the initial wager, otherwise the player loses the insurance wager.

If the player has a blackjack and the player/dealer has a blackjack, the player pushes. In some casinos, the player loses when both the player and player/dealer have a blackjack.

If the player has a blackjack and the player/dealer does not have a blackjack, the player wins. In some casinos, if a player wins with a blackjack, they are paid 1.2 to 1.5 times their wager.

A player may choose to receive an additional card (“hit”) if their hand has a value of less than twenty-one. The player may continue to hit as long as their hand has a value of less than twenty-one. Sometimes there is a limitation on hits. Sometimes if a player hits a certain number of cards, for example three cards, then the player wins regardless of the player/dealer's hand.

The first option to hit is sometimes determined based on either the player/dealer's down card or player/dealer's up card, and the player's seating position. The player/dealer's down card is sometimes referred to as the hole card. For example, if the player/dealer's down card is a four, then the player seated four seats clockwise from the player/dealer receives the first option to hit. If a table has eight seats, if the dealer's hole card is a nine, ten, jack, queen or king, then the first action corresponds to the player in seat one, two, three, four, five, and six, respectively. Options to hit may then be offered to the players who are not the player/dealer in a clockwise fashion. By providing the first hit option to a player in a seat corresponding to the down card, the players have an indication of what the player/dealer's down card is. Knowing what value the down card has provides the players a slight advantage regarding the decision to draw an additional card.

Some players seek help in their playing decisions, such as from a friend or a casino employee. In general, the casino will advise the player to draw an additional card if the hand has a value of sixteen or less, and otherwise to stand. In some casinos, casino management may explain the rules and standard odds to the player so that the player can make an informed decision.

If the player's hand initially has a value of less than twenty-one, the player may double their wager and draw only one additional card (“double down”). Some casinos limit the double down option to certain hand values, for example, nine, ten and eleven.

If the player's hand initially has two cards with the same face value (a “pair”), the player may split the cards, proffer an additional wager, typically between half of to equal to the initial wager, and play two hands. An additional card will be dealt to the split cards. Each hand may then be played independently.

Provided that the player/dealer does not have blackjack and the player has not doubled down, some casinos allow the player to surrender, give up or fold after receiving the initial hand and retain 50% of their wager.

The player/dealer's decision on whether to receive one or more additional cards is typically governed by the following rules:

The player/dealer must hit with a hand having a value of sixteen or less.

The player/dealer must hit with a hand having an ace and a six (a “soft” seventeen).

The player/dealer must not hit if the player/dealer has any other hand.

The player/dealer may never surrender.

The player/dealer may never split or double down their hand.

After all the players and the player/dealer have exercised the requirement or option to receive or not to receive additional cards, the value of the hand of each player is compared to the player/dealer's hand. A player wins their wager against the player/dealer if the player's hand has a total value not greater than twenty-one and closer to twenty-one than the player/dealer's hand. The player and player/dealer push or tie if the total value of their respective hands are the same. Based on whether the player wins or loses the wager, the wagers are settled. In the case that the player/dealer doesn't have enough funds to settle the wager, then the players will be paid equitably up to the amount that the player/dealer has.

Blackjack is widely played and has been extensively studied. There exist many books disclosing the odds of winning a hand based on following strict guidelines and/or counting cards. In general, a player has only a slight advantage if the player follows strict guidelines.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a plan view of a suited blackjack.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of a three card twenty-six.

FIG. 3 is a flow chart of a blackjack variant.

FIG. 4 is a player/dealer's decision tree.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Throughout this description, the embodiments and examples shown should be considered as exemplars, rather than limitations on the apparatus and methods of the present invention.

In order to create more excitement in a game when the rules have gotten stale, variations may be introduced. A variant is a difference or alteration from a standard.

One blackjack variant includes assigning a ranking to suited blackjacks and awarding a bonus to a winning suited blackjack. A suited blackjack is a blackjack where both cards have the same suit. More specifically, a suited blackjack is a hand with one ace and one king both having the same suit, one ace and one queen both having the same suit, one ace and one jack both having the same suit, or one ace and one ten both having the same suit. The bonus for having a suited blackjack may be limited to certain combinations and/or certain suits. Referring now to FIG. 1, there is shown a representation of a suited blackjack 100 having an ace of diamonds 100 and a king of diamonds 110.

Suited blackjacks may have ranks. One ranking order may be based solely on the suit and not on the face value of the cards. The ranking order may be spades, hearts, diamonds and clubs, or other order. Alternatively, the ranking order may be based solely on the face value and not on the suit of the non-ace cards. The ranking order may be king, queen, jack and ten, or other order. As another alternative, the ranking order may be based both on the suit and the face value of the non-ace cards or both cards. Also, the ranking order may be based (a) first on the suit and then on the face value, or (b) first on the face value and then on the suit.

If a player's hand is a suited blackjack and the player/dealer's hand is not a suited blackjack having a rank equal to or greater than the player, then the player wins. When a player who wagered wins with a suited blackjack, the player may win a bonus based on the wager. For example, the bonus for a suited blackjack may be 0.5, 1, 2 or other number times the wager. The bonus may be based upon the suit or face value of the non-ace card.

One example of the winnings ratio based on the rank of a winning hand is shown below: Rank Winning Hand Winning Ratio Rank Winning Hand Winning Ratio  1st Bridge Blackjack of Spades 1.5:1    2nd Bridge Blackjack of Hearts 1.5:1    3rd Bridge Blackjack of Diamonds 1.5:1    4th Bridge Blackjack of Clubs 1.5:1    5th Blackjack, which consists of any 1.2:1   Ace with any face card or a ten  6th Any combination of cards that total 21 1:1  7th Any combination of cards that total 20 1:1  8th Any combination of cards that total 19 1:1  9th Any combination of cards that total 18 1:1 10th Any combination of cards that total 17 1:1 11th Any combination of cards that total 16 1:1 12th Any combination of cards that total 15 1:1 13th Any combination of cards that total 14 1:1 14th Any combination of cards that total 13 1:1 15th Any combination of cards that total 12 1:1

By providing a bonus based on a suited blackjack, passion for playing may be increased. People tend to enjoy game variants that have simple or minor changes. The ability to win a bonus encourages players to increase their wagers. Casinos can directly profit with increased wagering.

While blackjack can be varied by considering suited blackjacks in this way, other variations may be used. Another blackjack variant includes the player pushing when both the player busts and the player/dealer busts with a predetermined hand. This alters the general rule that the player loses if the player busts, regardless of whether the player/dealer busts.

One kind of predetermined hand that may be used in this variant is a three card twenty-six. A three card twenty-six is a hand of three cards which has a value of twenty-six. A three card twenty-six has a single additional card that is either a ten, a jack, a queen or a king. Referring now to FIG. 2, there is shown a representation of a three card twenty-six 200 having a ten of hearts 210, a six of spades 220, and a king of diamonds 230.

Other kinds of predetermined hands that may be used in this “push” variant include three card, four card, five card and six card hands. The predetermined hand may have a single value. The single value may be twenty-two, twenty-three, twenty-four, twenty-five, twenty-six, twenty-seven, twenty-eight, twenty-nine and thirty. The predetermined hand may be selected based upon the odds of getting the predetermined hand. The predetermined hand may be fixed by casino management for a specific table. The predetermined hand may be selected by the player/dealer or other player. Thus, examples of predetermined hands include a four card twenty-four, a five card twenty-three, a six card twenty-five and a seven card twenty-two.

By introducing a rule that the player pushes when both the player busts and the player/dealer busts when the player/dealer busts with a predetermined hand, the player's odds of losing are decreased. The odds modification may make players believe that they have a greater chance of winning, thereby inducing the players to augment their wagers, invest more money, play longer or play more often.

Another blackjack variant includes the player receiving an option to replace a bust card with another hit card. This may be available, for example, when the player's initial hand has a six and either a ten, jack, queen or king and the bust card is either a ten, jack, queen or king. A bust card is an additional or hit card that results in the player busting. The option to replace the bust card may be offered to the player only once per hand. The player may be required to increase his wager or to make an additional wager (e.g. on a side circle) to receive the “replacement” card. For example, the increase or additional wager could be a fixed amount, doubling the existing wager, or ½ the existing wager. In this way, the replacement works like a double down. By introducing a rule that the player may replace a card that causes a bust, the player's odds of losing may be decreased. If the player wins, then the player may be paid based upon the original wager and upon the increase or additional wager. The payment may be different for the original wager versus the increase or additional wager. For example, the original wager may pay even money, but the additional wager may pay 1½ times.

Another blackjack variant includes the player receiving only one card per split hand when the original hand consists of two ace cards.

Another blackjack variant includes the player not being allowed to double down when the player's hand consists of a blackjack.

Another blackjack variant includes the player not being able to surrender after they have doubled-down.

Another blackjack variant includes the player not being able to surrender if they have received an additional card.

Another blackjack variant includes the ability to “double down” but wager an amount less than double the original wager. However, the increase in wager must be at least the table's minimum wager.

Another blackjack variant includes a rule that no player may serve as player/dealer for more than two consecutive hands. In this variant, the player/dealer role may rotate clockwise around the table. Additionally, a player may be precluded from serving as the player/dealer if they have not wagered in the previous hand.

Another blackjack variant includes a player allowing other people to wager on the player's hand. In such a variant, the person who wagers the most money on the player's hand may determine how the player plays the hand.

Another blackjack variant includes limiting a kum-kum wager to three parties.

Another blackjack variant includes if the player/dealer's hole card is exposed, if the player/dealer's hand is not a blackjack then three cards are burned and the exposed card is replaced with the next card from the deck.

Another blackjack variant includes if a player receives a hit card out of turn, then the hand may be played and the player who should have received the option to receive a hit card will be provided the option to hit next.

Another blackjack variant includes if a card is removed from a shoe prematurely, then the card is placed under the shoe and play continues so long as the card is not exposed. Should the card be exposed, the card may be removed, three additional cards may be burned and then play may continue.

Another blackjack variant includes if two cards are removed from a shoe simultaneously, but not exposed, play may continue. If either card is exposed, the card may be removed, three additional cards may be burned and play may continue.

Another blackjack variant includes if cards are dealt out of order, the cards may be rotated around the table so that the cards are dealt to the proper player. In this variant, if the first player receives a second card, then no rotation may occur.

Another blackjack variant includes if a card is dealt to a no bet position, the hand dealt to the no bet position is removed and play continues.

Another blackjack variant includes if a player is not dealt an additional card when requested and another player receives an additional card, the player may then receive an additional card. However, once the player/dealer's hole card is exposed, the misplayed hand may not be remedied.

Although the description to this point has been with respect to in-person game play, card games such as blackjack may also be played using computers, over computer networks, and in other kinds of computing environments. A “computing environment” is one or more computing devices which can communicate with one another. A “computing device” is a device with a processor and memory that can execute instructions. Computing devices can be, for example, personal computers, server computers, computing tablets, set top boxes, video game systems, personal video recorders, telephones, personal digital assistants (PDAs), laptop computers and special-purpose devices. Computing devices may run an operating system, such as Linux, Unix, MS-DOS, Microsoft Windows, Palm OS, and Apple Mac OS X operating systems.

Game play may be enabled, managed and tracked through one or more computer software programs. In a computing environment, players (including the player/dealer) may be emulated. While cards may appear on a video display or other output device, the computing environment may maintain and manipulate data which represents the cards and the wagers.

The discussion above about “cards” applies in a computing environment, but a card in a computing environment has a visual representation separate from its value and status. A card's status could be dealt, undealt, or in a particular player's hand. Likewise, terms such a deck and multi-deck have analogous meanings in a computing environment to the non-computing environment.

Wagers are typically made with currency or representations of currency such as tokens, chips or coupons. However, wagers may be effected for any type of property including accounts, chattel paper, goods, software, information, licenses, equipment, inventory, intangibles, proceeds, and real property. Alternatively, wagers may be made for points, ranking, bragging rights, status, services or non-monetary fun such as being identified as a “winner”.

Referring now to FIG. 3, there is shown a flow chart of a suited blackjack variant game. The process flows that described above. At the outset, a player/dealer is selected 310. Then, the players and the player/dealer place their wagers 320. Then, a player is selected to receive his cards first 330. The player/dealer then deals two rounds 340. Blackjacks hands are initially settled. The players in turn make their decision(s) on playing their hand (splitting, doubling down, forfeiting and hitting) 350. The player/dealer then makes his decision(s) on a hitting 360. Finally, each player's hand is compared to the player/dealer's hand, and the wagers are settled 370.

Referring now to FIG. 4, there is shown a decision tree for the player/dealer. If the hand is less than or equal to sixteen or is a soft seventeen 410, then the player/dealer must hit 440. Otherwise the player/dealer must stand 450.

Closing Comments

The foregoing is merely illustrative and not limiting, having been presented by way of example only. Although exemplary embodiments of the invention have been shown and described, it will be apparent to those having ordinary skill in the art that changes, modifications, and/or alterations may be made, none of which depart from the spirit of the present invention. All such changes, modifications and alterations should therefore be seen as within the scope of the present invention.

Although many of the examples presented herein involve specific combinations of method acts or system elements, it should be understood that those acts and those elements may be combined in other ways to accomplish the same objectives. Acts, elements and features discussed only in connection with one embodiment are not intended to be excluded from a similar role in other embodiments.

As used herein, “plurality” means two or more.

As used herein, a “set” of items may include one or more of such items.

As used herein, whether in the written description or the claims, the terms “comprising”, “including”, “carrying”, “having”, “containing”, “involving”, and the like are to be understood to be open-ended, i.e., to mean including but not limited to. Only the transitional phrases “consisting of” and “consisting essentially of”, respectively, are closed or semi-closed transitional phrases with respect to claims.

Use of ordinal terms such as “first”, “second”, “third”, etc., in the claims to modify a claim element does not by itself connote any priority, precedence, or order of one claim element over another or the temporal order in which acts of a method are performed, but are used merely as labels to distinguish one claim element having a certain name from another element having a same name (but for use of the ordinal term) to distinguish the claim elements.

As used herein, “and/or” means that the listed items are alternatives, but the alternatives also include any combination of the listed items. 

1. A process comprising: accepting a wager from a first player dealing a first hand to a first player and a second hand to a second player, the first hand comprising a first card and a third card, the second hand comprising a second card and a fourth card if the first hand is a first suited blackjack having a first rank and the second hand is not a second suited blackjack having a second rank equal to or greater than the first rank then providing the first player a bonus.
 2. The process of claim 1 further comprising: optionally dealing an additional card to the second player if the sum of the values of the second card, the fourth card and the additional card equal 26, then the first player retains the wager.
 3. The process of claim 1 further comprising: optionally dealing a first additional card to the first player if the first card and the third card have a value of 6 and 10 or 10 and 6 and the first additional card has a value of 10, then the third player receives an option to replace the first additional card with a second additional card.
 4. The process of claim 1 wherein a suited blackjack of spades has a higher rank than a suited blackjack of hearts, the suited blackjack of hearts has a higher rank than a suited blackjack of diamonds, the suited blackjack of diamonds has a higher rank than a suited blackjack of clubs.
 5. The process of claim 1 further comprising; optionally dealing an additional card to the second player if the sum of the values of the second card, the fourth card and the additional card equal one selected from the group consisting of 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29 and 30, then the first player retains the wager.
 6. The process of claim 1 further comprising: optionally dealing a first additional card and a second additional card to the second player if the sum of the values of the second card, the fourth card, the first additional card and the second additional card equal one selected from the group consisting of 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29 and 30, then the first player retains the wager.
 7. The process of claim 1 further comprising: optionally dealing a first additional card, a second additional card and a third additional card to the second player if the sum of the values of the second card, the fourth card, the first additional card, the second additional card and the third additional card equal one selected from the group consisting of 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29 and 30, then the first player retains the wager.
 8. The process of claim 1 further comprising: optionally dealing a first additional card, a second additional card, a third additional card and a fourth additional card to the second player if the sum of the values of the second card, the fourth card, the first additional card, the second additional card, the third additional card and the fourth additional card equal one selected from the group consisting of 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29 and 30, then the first player retains the wager.
 9. The process of claim 1 embodied in a memory, which is further included in a computing device.
 10. A process comprising: a first player wagering against a second player dealing a first hand to the first player and a second hand to the second player, the first hand comprising a first card and a third card, the second hand comprising a second card and a fourth card optionally dealing a first additional card to the second player if the sum of the values of the second card, the fourth card, and the first additional card equal one selected from the group consisting of 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29 and 30, then the second player does not win.
 11. The process of claim 11 further comprising: optionally dealing a second additional card to the second player if the sum of the values of the second card, the fourth card, the first additional card, and the second additional card equal one selected from the group consisting of 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29 and 30, then the second player does not win.
 12. The process of claim 12 further comprising: optionally dealing a third additional card to the second player if the sum of the values of the second card, the fourth card, the first additional card, the second additional card, and the third additional card equal one selected from the group consisting of 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29 and 30, then the player does not win.
 13. The process of claim 13 further comprising; optionally dealing a fourth additional card to the second player if the sum of the values of the second card, the fourth card, the first additional card, the second additional card, the third additional card and the fourth additional card equal one selected from the group consisting of 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29 and 30, then the player does not win.
 14. The process of claim 11 further comprising: optionally dealing an additional card to the first player if the first card and the third card have a value of 6 and 10 or 10 and 6 and the additional card has a value of 10, then the first player receives an option to replace the additional card.
 15. The process of claim 11, wherein the sum of the values of the second card, the fourth card, and the first additional card equal
 26. 16. The process of claim 11, embodied in a storage medium, which is further included in a computing device.
 17. A process comprising: a first player wagering against a second player dealing a first hand to the first player and a second hand to the second player, the first hand comprising a first card and a third card, the second hand comprising a second card and a fourth card optionally dealing an additional card to the first player if the first card and the third card have a value of 6 and 10 or 10 and 6 and the additional card has a value of 10, then the first player receives an option to replace the additional card.
 18. The process of claim 17, embodied in a storage device, which is further included in a computing device. 